Thursday, August 29, 2013

Today I want to show you the mani I did for my weekend of sailing :) One of my dear friends is a sailing expert and she took me sailing on the Frisian lakes :) That called for an appropriate mani:

It is inspired by The Nailasaurus. I used striping tape for the lines, my first time using striping tape! It is amazing stuff... I used Rimmel "My Denim" for the blue, Essence "Fame Fatal" for the red, W7 "White" for the white base and NYC "Full Metal Jacket" for the gold. I freehanded the anchor with a nail art brush and dotting tool.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

A while back, I showed you 2 ruffians (purple & blue). I had a very important job interview and did not know what to do with my nails (I had done light pink with roses twice already), but then I thought of The Ruffian! After going over it in my mind a couple of hundred times, I came up with the following colour combination: lilac and gold. I used NYC "Full Metal Jacket" and Essence "Ballerina's Charm", one coat of each, and topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta Dri. The how-to is explained here. Put it on last Thursday evening, still wearing it today! Did not have time to redo my nails all weekend, but it is hardly noticable from another person's perspective ;) Anyway, I thought this look is very chic, don't you?

One day later, I wanted to try out a ruffian with silver and maroon on my aunt's nails, so I did, with one coat of NYC "Platinum Card" and two coats of "Prune" by Europ Cosmetics that my friend brought me from Paris. I topped it off with Seche Vite. Look at that shine! Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so I had to make do with my phone and artificial light (never good), but one can still make out the shine :)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Today's Swatch-It Sunday features Golden Rose Jolly Jewels no. 108. I have shown you more jolly jewels, as you can recall, namely 111, 113, 103, 105, 122 and 115. I love them, since they are the closest thing to indies available here in Holland. This is number 108. It is opaque in two coats, needs lots of dabbing and is very hungry, so lots of top coat is required. But it's awesome!

With flash:

Daylight:

Matte:

Decided to try some nail art. So I took my striper brush and some black acrylic paint and did this:

Yeah, it needs a little more practice, but the idea is nice. I wish I had had some direct sunlight, that would have been awesome. But sadly, there was none during the two days I wore this mani. Next time maybe!

Friday, August 23, 2013

I had the privilege to guest post for the amazing Missy of Gnarly Gnails, while she was undergoing some intensive nail care treatment. In this post, I will show you how to create the effect of L'Oréal Nail Art Stickers "Confetti" without having to spend 10 euros on them!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The new trend edition of Essence has just hit the stores, so I wanted to inspire you with some nail art! First a swatch of "Icylicious":

It is a really nice colour, but sadly not opaque in 2 coats. This is 3 coats, and still there are some spots where it has not quite leveled. Oh well, I still like it! The shimmer makes up for everything, once the sunlight hits it ;)

So I told you yesterday about the job interview and that I was going to wear Salon Nails no. 20. I added some roses like last time and felt confident that this mani was calm enough for the interviewers, without betraying my love for nail art :) The interview went well, but there are a lot of people interviewing for the position, so we will see.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Today, I have swatches from the gift that The Lieutenant brought me from Japan! Salon Nails was ranked no. 1 by the Japanese public, so she thought I had to check it out :D She brought me 3 colour/finish combi's that I was still lacking. Way to go Lieutenant! :D

Now onto the swatches! First up: no. 19. A nude packed with tiny glass flecks. This is what it looks like in daylight:

Look at it in the sunlight! Whoa! It is gorgeous. This is 3 coats, no undies.

This is number 4. This has more of a shimmer, and is less sparkly. The colour is lovely and more opaque than the others. This is 2 coats, no undies, in daylight.

Number 20 is very sparkly again, because, like no. 19, it is packed with glass flecks. This is 3 coats, no undies and was taken in direct sunlight:

I'm very pleased with these. Not only because they are a valuable addition to my collection, but also because the formulas are very nice to work with. The wide brush took me some getting used to, but it is easy to use after a bit of fiddling in the beginning. That is because it was not rounded, just widened. Did some nail art, a simple dotticure, with the 3 of them:

It creates a very subtle gradient effect. I like it. I'm wearing no. 20 to a job interview tomorrow. Will show you what I did with it. Wish me luck!